Reality

I sit alone on the sofa
a book open on my lap
my passport to somewhere else
I don’t know where my reality lies
Is it in the bright spring sunshine
outside my window
or is it among the shadows
that fill my mind?
The shadows blot out the sun
like the shadows
of gathering storm clouds
thunder rumbles across an empty plain
where I stumble and crawl
Is it less real
because it is in my mind?
Who can say
which is right
and which is wrong
and so I escape into
someone else’s words
someone else’s
imagined reality.

Alone in the darkness
eagerly awake
no need for pretence
or the smiles that you fake
surrendering yourself to
the truth that you make
from worn out memories
and a tarnished keepsake
the night is your harbour
freedom no one can take
but dawn’s cold glow sparkles
with tears at daybreak